It was a little idea that turned into a couple of phone calls, then a few emails and eventually exploded into two-and-a-half months of planning. Finally, after a restless night, Just One More Book!! (Mark and Andrea, and their two daughters, Lucy and Bayla) set out early in the morning of November 12, 2008 for a six-day road trip to live, eat, socialize, paint and read with children’s book creators in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Part 1 of this series recounts the story of how the trip came to be and includes footage of the drive from Ottawa, Ontario to Roxbury, Connecticut. It also features photographs and video footage of some of the people we spent time with and places we visited — all of which will appear later in the series. The travel sequence ends with our arrival at Lane Smith’s and Molly Leach’s home.

April is poetry month. Which means that if you haven’t spent much time with poetry, you can enjoy it guilt-free — and maybe discover you like it. There should be lots to enjoy. Especially since the people who love poetry are going to be all over it.

One such example is Greg Pincus. Greg is a screenwriter, author, poet and the entertaining blogger of Gotta Book. And this year, he’s the founder and host of 30 Poets/30 Days, an event that will see his Gotta Book blog host new and original work by thirty guest poets, a new poem for each day of the month. Contributors include Mary Ann Hoberman, Jon Scieszka and Jane Yolen, and will kick off on April 1st with a contribution from Jack Prelutsky.

On this edition, Greg Pincus on 30 Poets/30 Days.

Check out Greg’s poem, I’m Pretty Well Connected, which speaks to our own fascination with social media. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of podcasting in it.

And don’t forget to check out the Poetry Month excitement starting Wednesday at The Miss Rumphius Effect and GottaBook — between the two of them, they’ll treat us to more than 66 poets and previously unpublished poems, at least one a day for the entire month.

Finally!!! Mark has produced more than half of the videos from our six-day holiday to Connecticut and Northampton — our November 2008 Rock Stars of Reading road trip. This means we’ll begin publishing the video series, one video at-a-time, beginning on March 31; filling up the “off-days” in the Just One More Book!! publishing cycle until all of the videos are available.

To prove this is really happening, here is a promotional video for the series. It’s an extract from Part 1 and features some of our car travel as well as photographs and video clips from the entire trip, all cut to the amazing song Animus Girl by savium. Look for the faces of Richard Michelson, Paul O. Zelinsky, Jane Yolen, Jeanne Birdsall, Mo Willems, Jane Dyer, Jarrett Krosoczka, Diane de Groat, Lane Smith, Corinne Dumas, Jeff Mack and MANY MORE!

With the exception of this promotional video, we will not be embedding the videos into the Just One More Book!! RSS feed. You’ll have to come here to watch them. Each video will be about 15 minutes long.

On this edition of Just One More Book!!, Mark speaks with Flying Horse Farms Camp Director W. Patrick Smith, and author Sara Lewis Holmes about building Flying Horse Farms, spectacularly average experiences and the role of books at a camp for children with serious illnesses.

This beautifully honest confession of the ups, the downs, the confusion and fond memories of a father dealing with the death of his son offers a rare, candid, detailed look at sadness, solitude and the strength to carry on.

Some children’s authors end up in their career following a series of events, even misadventures. In the process, they discover that writing was the right fit all along.

Author Jane Cutler is a perfect example. After serving as an editor and a failed attempt at being an agent, Ms. Cutler fell into writing with the book Darcy and Gran Don’t Like Babies. And even though none of her other books took thirty-five minutes to write (yes, thirty-five minutes), Ms. Cutler’s other books reflect that same style and attention to characters.

Mark recently spoke with Ms. Cutler. We pick up the conversation with a story about her book The Cello of Mr. O, a remarkable story of a concert cellist who performed his beautiful music in the public square of a war torn city.

Ms. Cutler’s new book, Guttersnipe, is due for release next month (April 2009).